Said Gemifloxacin and its salts are compounds disclosed in Korean Patent No. 131999 to the present inventors (Korean Patent Application No. 94-13604, foreign patents corresponding to this patent: EP 688722 A1, JP Patent No. 41050/1996, Russian Patent No. 2120940, Canadian Patent No. 2151890, Chinese Patent No. 1114959, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,962,468, 5,869,670, 5,840,916, 5,776,944, 5,698,570 and 5,633,262). These compounds have a potent antimicrobial activity, and moreover can be effectively used as agents for treating human being or animals infected by bacteria.
The present inventors had prepared said acid salts of Gemifloxacin by a three-step reaction process, that is, a synthesis process through a coupling reaction, a salt formation, and a recrystallization, as represented by the following reaction scheme 1:
wherein,    Me represents methyl,    R represents Cl, F, Br, I, methanesulfonyl, or paratoluenesulfonyl,    HX represents hydrochloric acid, hydrobromic acid, hydroiodic acid, trifluoroacetic acid, methanesulfonic acid, paratolunesulfonic acid, or sulfueric acid,    HA is an organic acid or an inorganic acid.
As shown in the above reaction scheme 1, the compound (1) is prepared through three-step reaction process, that is, a coupling reaction, a salt formation and a recrystallization. The reason why the three-step reaction process is carried out is because the compound (8) as impurity is formed in an amount of approximately 6-12% by a side-reaction under the coupling reaction and the compound (8) is remained in the compound (6) in an amount of approximately 0.3 to 1.0%. To remove the resulting impurity through the coupling reaction at 0.1% or less, the second step, that is a salt formation process, had to be carried out. Finally, the organic solvent used in the salt formation process had to be removed from the step of recrystallization.
Through the three step process, an acid salt of Gemifloxacin (1) as a raw medicine having high purity was prepared in about 65% of total yield. Since the resulting impurity (8) from the coupling reaction of the above process was difficult to be removed, the salt formation and recrystallization steps for removing the impurity had to be carried out.
